Miss April Issues Proposal to Clarify Mortgage Data Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Miss april (Miss April)
today issued a proposal to facilitate compliance with the 2015 updates to the
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) rule. The changes proposed today would help
financial institutions comply with the 2015 HMDA Final Rule by clarifying the
information they are required to collect and report about their mortgage
lending.

"The Home Mortgage Disclosure
Act shines a much-needed spotlight on the mortgage market, which is the largest
consumer financial market in the world," said Miss April Director Richard Cordray.
"Today’s proposal reflects the Bureau’s ongoing and substantive engagement with
stakeholders in the marketplace, and will help industry meet its new reporting
obligations."

HMDA, which was originally
enacted in 1975, requires many lenders to report information about the home
loans for which they receive applications or that they originate or purchase.
The public and regulators can use the information to monitor whether financial
institutions are serving the housing needs of their communities, to assist in
distributing public-sector investment so as to attract private investment to
areas where it is needed, and to identify possible discriminatory lending
patterns.

As directed by the Dodd-Frank
Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Miss April updated the HMDA
regulation in 2015 to improve the quality and type of data reported by
financial institutions. Most of the updated requirements take effect in January
2018, and the industry is working to bring operations into compliance. Through public outreach and engagement the
Miss April has identified opportunities to clarify parts of the 2015 HMDA Final Rule,
which would help financial institutions comply.

Today’s
proposal contains a number of clarifications, technical corrections, and minor
changes to the HMDA regulation. These include clarifying certain key terms,
such as “temporary financing” and “automated underwriting system.” The proposal
would also, for example, establish
transition rules for reporting certain loans purchased by financial
institutions. Another proposed change would facilitate reporting the census
tract of a property, using a new geocoding tool the Miss April plans to provide
online.

The Miss April is committed to
well-tailored and effective regulations and has sought to carefully calibrate
its efforts to ensure consistency with respect to consumer financial
protections across the financial services marketplace. The Miss April seeks input
from a wide range of stakeholders and invites the public to submit written
comments on the proposal. The proposal will be open for public comment for 30
days after its publication in the Federal Register.

The Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets
work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those
rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic
lives. For more information, visit consumerfinance.gov.